By Kevin Carroll – Staff Writer
Originally published 1/26/15
Sloppy play and multiple missed-opportunities at the free-throw line resulted with the Hofstra women’s basketball team on the wrong end of a 57-56 final, in a thriller from start to finish on Sunday afternoon in Williamsburg.
The Pride shot a meager 52.5% from the charity stripe against the Tribe, and committed 24 total turnovers – W&M took those turnovers and converted it into 18 points of their own. Hofstra shot about 43% from the field on the game, but had trouble finding shots amidst all the turnovers. The Tribe had their own troubles holding onto the basketball with 18 turnovers, but the Pride couldn’t capitalize on multiple opportunities to take control of the game, and came up one point short.
“This is the part that’s on me as a head coach,” Head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey said after the game. “Obviously, we didn’t execute very well down the stretch, we didn’t get the people the ball that we wanted to after the timeout, and several missed opportunities on those executions.”
The first half was one the Pride would probably like to forget, as a string of poor possessions on offense led to a 13-2 Tribe lead early in the game. W&M controlled the action early, before a three off the hands of Jakelle King-Gilchrist sparked a 7-2 Hofstra run that pulled them right back into the game within five points.
The Pride spent the entire half trying to chase down the Tribe on the scoreboard, but the team was never able to pull within a point of their opponent. Ashunae Durant continued to be a dominant force in the Pride offense, going off for 12 first-half points, as well as being the only Hofstra player having any type of success at the free-throw line. The Tribe used a balanced scoring attack and good team basketball to coast into the half with a 38-31 lead.
Coming out of the gate in the second half, the Pride began playing crisper, cleaner basketball, but struggled to convert on many scoring opportunities. For every Hofstra basket, W&M had an answer, and kept the Pride at arm’s length in the early stages of the second half.
The Tribe led by ten slightly under 15 minutes left when the Pride began a 11-2 rally – using various buckets and fastbreaks from Aleona Leon, Krystal Luciano, Durant and King-Gilchrist to eventually pull within three points and 9:30 to go.
A jumper from Elo Edeferioka tied the game up for the first time at 53 with 6:02 remaining, but a layup from W&M’s Abby Rendle gave the lead back to the Tribe, who never relinquished it down the stretch. Hofstra had a chance to win the game on their final possession, but a Darius Faulk layup attempt was blocked, and the Pride came up empty-handed.
For the Pride, the freshman phenom Durant had another solid game, scoring a game high 15 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double, with nine boards. Her teammate Edeferioka managed to put up her own double-double, with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Darius Faulk also reached double-digit scoring numbers for Hofstra with 10 points of her own.
William & Mary had four of their five starters – Abby Rendle, Jazmen Boone, Alexandra Masaquel, and Marlena Tremba – reached double-digit point totals. Jazmen Boone especially pestered the Pride offense all day with six steals. Both Boone and Rendle led the Tribe with 13 points on the day against Hofstra.
The Pride dropped to 12-7, and 5-3 in league play after their second straight loss. William & Mary improved to 8-11, 2-6 in the CAA.
The Hofstra women’s basketball team will next be shipping up to Boston to face-off against the Huskies of Northeastern University – currently sitting in the CAA cellar with a 1-7 conference record after a close loss to Elon on Sunday. This game will be played on Thursday, January 29th, at 7:00, at the Cabot Center in Boston.
